JPH09223424A - Relay box holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relay box holder by which assembling accuracy can be improved without deteriorating workability of wiring work when a wire harness is assembled. SOLUTION: A holding part 3 capable of housing a relay box contained in a wire harness on a wiring plate is provided. Support pins 31 and 32 are arranged in the holding part 3, and the holding part 3 is installed on a base 2 through these. In the holding part 3, a posture can be changed to a first posture in which work can be easily performed and a second posture in which a dimension of an electric wire can be easily measured by sliding the support pins 31 and 32 along sliding grooves 20 and 21.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a relay box holder for positioning and holding a relay box on a wiring board during wiring work in a wire harness assembling process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A wire harness generally includes a large number of electric wires, which are laid on a wiring board to be assembled into a predetermined branch shape. Usually, at the end of the wire harness (the end of each branch),
A connector is provided, but depending on the specifications and part number of the wire harness, a relay box etc. may be attached.

In order to assemble a wire harness, a plurality of electric wire supports are erected on a wiring board and each electric wire is wired along a predetermined electric wire support. Then, by assembling and attaching the connector and the relay box, the terminal fittings which are crimped in advance to the ends of the respective electric wires are inserted and attached into the terminal insertion holes of the housing of the connector and the relay box. In this case, since the relay box is a large-sized component and the number of terminal fittings to be inserted is large, it is necessary to preliminarily position and hold the wiring box on the wiring board in order to smoothly proceed with the assembly work.

Therefore, conventionally, there has been proposed a relay box holder capable of holding the relay box on the wiring board in a predetermined posture, that is, a posture in which the terminal fitting can be easily inserted and attached. More specifically, the relay box is included in a wire harness for an automobile, and is like a so-called switchboard for collecting and wiring relays, fuses, and the like.

This relay box has a relay mounting portion on which a relay or the like is mounted, and an electric wire connecting portion on which the above-mentioned terminal fittings are inserted. The terminal insertion hole is formed in the wire connecting portion. Then, by inserting a terminal fitting crimped to a predetermined electric wire into the terminal insertion hole of the electric wire connecting portion, the electric connection between the electric wire and the relay or fuse mounted in the relay mounting portion is achieved. Has become.

When assembling the wire harness, it is preferable that the electric wire connecting portion is oriented in a direction in which an operator can easily work. Therefore, in the conventional relay box holder, the terminal insertion hole faces the worker side,
It can hold a relay box.

[0007]

By the way, the automobile wire harness is formed in a particularly complicated branch shape. This is because when the wire harness is wired to an automobile or the like, it is assembled in a very complicated three-dimensional form. Therefore, when assembling the wire harness, the dimensions of the respective parts, for example, the length dimension of the branch line branched from the trunk line of the wire harness must be accurately measured according to the design dimension. For this reason, when holding the relay box on the wiring board, keep the orientation of the relay box with respect to the wires so that it will be the orientation when actually installed in an automobile, etc., and minimize the error during measurement. It is necessary to devise such as.

However, the direction in which it is actually installed in an automobile or the like does not necessarily match the direction in which the above work is easy. Therefore, if workability is prioritized,
There is a problem that assembling accuracy is lowered, and if the assembling accuracy is prioritized, workability is lowered. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a relay box holder that can improve the assembly accuracy of the finally assembled wire harness without lowering workability during wiring work. is there.

[0009]

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, a relay box holder according to claim 1 holds a relay box having an electric wire connecting portion during a wiring work in an assembly process of a wire harness. A tool for holding a relay box provided on the base and capable of holding the relay box with the terminal insertion hole of the wire connection portion exposed, and the wire connection with the relay box held. Characterized in that it has a displacement mechanism capable of changing the posture of the holding portion between a first posture in which the portion is oriented toward the operator and a second posture in which the wire connecting portion is oriented in a predetermined direction. Is.

According to this structure, by displacing the holding portion to the first posture, the relay box can be held with the terminal insertion hole of the wire connecting portion facing the operator, and in this state. It is possible to easily insert the terminal fittings of the electric wires to be inserted into the terminal insertion holes in order. Further, after the wiring work is completed, by displacing the holding portion to the second posture, it is possible to hold the relay box in a predetermined direction, that is, in a direction designed in advance in the wire harness after the assembly is completed. .

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, a relay box holder according to a second aspect is the relay box holder according to the first aspect, wherein the displacement mechanism includes a support pin provided in a holder and a base. And a slide groove that is provided to support the support pin in a slidable manner along a predetermined track. According to this configuration, the same operation as the first aspect of the invention is achieved. In particular, in the invention according to the present claim, the holding portion is attached to the base via the support pin, and the holding portion is slid along the slide groove to move the holding portion to the first posture and the second posture. You can change the posture. That is, the posture of the holding portion can be changed with an extremely simple structure.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, a relay box holder according to a third aspect is the relay box holder according to the first or second aspect, which is capable of locking the holding portion at least in the first posture. It is characterized in that a stop mechanism is provided. According to this configuration, the same operation as the invention according to claim 1 or 2 is achieved. In addition, since the holding portion can be locked and held in the first posture,
The posture of the holding portion does not change during the insertion work of the terminal fitting, and the terminal insertion work can be performed more easily.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a relay box holder according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 1, this relay box holder 1 has a wiring box (not shown) which is included in a wire harness to be assembled when performing a wiring work in a process of assembling a wire harness for an automobile. No.) It is a tool for holding the above in a positioned state.

The relay box applied in this embodiment has a shape as shown in FIGS. The relay box 40 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. 2 is a perspective view of the relay box 40 seen from the upper surface side, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the relay box 40 in the state of FIG.

The relay box 40 includes relay mounting parts 41, 42, 43, 4 to which relays and fuses are mounted.
4 (see FIG. 2) and a predetermined electric wire among the electric wires included in the wire harness, the relay mounting portions 41, 42, 43,
It has an electric wire connecting portion 45 (see FIG. 3) for connecting to a relay or the like mounted on the connector 44. Relay mounting part 41,
Reference numerals 42, 43 and 44 hold the relays and fuses by fitting them therein. Also,
The electric wire connecting portion 45 has a plurality of terminal insertion holes 47. A predetermined electric wire can be inserted and attached to each terminal insertion hole 47. Furthermore, each terminal insertion hole 47 is electrically connected to the corresponding relay mounting portion 41, 42, 43, 44. Therefore, each terminal insertion hole 47
By inserting and attaching the electric wire to which the terminal fitting is crimped, the electric wire is electrically connected to the mounted relay or fuse through the terminal fitting.

That is, the relay box 40 is a collective distribution board for collecting the relays, fuses, etc. included in the wire harness and wiring them together. When a relay or the like is attached, the cover is attached to the upper surface of the relay box 40, but the cover is omitted in FIG. The relay box 40 includes a mounting bracket 46 for mounting the relay box 40 on the vehicle body,
It has a converging member 48 for bundling a plurality of electric wires connected to the electric wire connecting portion 45. These mounting brackets 4
6 and the converging member 48 are the relay box 40, respectively.
Can be formed integrally with.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the relay box holder 1 includes a base 2 which can be fixed to a wiring board, and a holding portion 3 which is provided on the base 2 and can hold and hold the relay box 40. Have In addition, this relay box holder 1 will be described later with reference to the posture of the held relay box 40.
In order to change the posture to one posture (first posture and second posture), the displacement mechanism 4 that can change the posture of the holding unit 3 with respect to the base 2 is provided. Hereinafter, the relay box holder 1 will be described in detail.

The base 2 has a substantially U-shaped support frame 5
And a pair of legs 6 provided on this. The support frame 5 has a bottom plate 7 and a pair of extension plates 8 and 9 extending from both ends of the bottom plate 7 perpendicularly to the bottom plate 7, and the pair of extension plates 8 and 9 are They are facing each other. Leg 6
Are projectingly provided on the bottom plate 7 and projecting downward. These legs 6 can be constituted by, for example, round bars,
In the present embodiment, the male screw 10 is formed on the leg 6.
Then, the leg 6 is inserted into a mounting hole provided in the wiring plate and is fastened and fixed to the wiring plate by applying a tightening nut from below the wiring plate.

The extension plate 8 has a pair of slide grooves 20, 21.
have. The pair of slide grooves 20 and 21 are curved and elongated grooves. More specifically, the slide groove 20 has a predetermined center of curvature and is formed along the circumference of an imaginary circle having a constant radius centered on the center of curvature. The slide groove 21 has the same radius of curvature as the predetermined center of curvature and is formed along the circumference of a virtual circle having a diameter larger than the constant radius. On the other hand, the extension plate 9 has slide grooves 22 and 23 similar to the slide grooves 20 and 21.
have. The slide grooves 22 and 23 are arranged at positions symmetrical to the slide grooves 20 and 21, respectively.

The extension plate 8 has two through holes 24, 2
Five. The through hole 24 is formed between the upper end of the slide groove 20 and the upper end of the slide groove 21, and the through hole 25 is formed between the lower end of the slide groove 20 and the lower end of the slide groove 21. On the other hand, the extension plate 9 also has two through holes similar to the above through holes 24 and 25 (in FIG. 1, only one through hole 25 is shown). Then, the through holes on the side of the extending plate 9 are arranged at positions symmetrical to the through holes 24 and 25 on the side of the extending plate 8, respectively. Balls of a ball plunger 50 described later can be engaged with the through holes 24 and 25.

Next, the holding portion 3 is formed in a block shape and can be made of, for example, a synthetic resin. An accommodating chamber 30 for accommodating the relay box 40 is defined on the upper surface of the holding unit 3. As shown in FIG. 4, in the housing chamber 30, the relay box 40 is turned upside down, that is, the terminal insertion hole of the wire connection portion 45 (not shown in FIG. 4 for simplification) is exposed. Can be held in a state. The inner surface shape of the housing chamber 30 corresponds to the outer shape of the relay box 40 to be held, and thus the relay box 40 can be housed exactly.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 55 indicates a protruding piece for fixing the relay box, which is provided in the housing chamber 30. The projecting piece 55 is inserted into the gap of the relay box 40, that is, the gap 56 shown in FIG. 3 in the present embodiment, in the state where the relay box 40 is accommodated. Further, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 57 is a relay box 4
0 protruding portion (in the present embodiment, the protruding portion 5 shown in FIG.
8) shows an insertion hole into which 8) is inserted. This insertion hole 57
The protruding portion 58 and the protruding portion 58 are adapted to be closely fitted to each other. Therefore, the protrusion 55 and the insertion hole 57 are
Thus, the relay box 40 can be reliably accommodated and held without rattling. In addition, in FIG. 1, reference numerals 35, 36, 37 and 38 denote notches formed in the edge portion of the relay box 40. These notches 35,
36, 37, 38 avoid interference between the mounting bracket 46 and the converging member 48 and the holding portion 3.

Further, ball plungers 50 are screwed into both side surface portions 39 of the holding portion 3. In FIG. 1, only the ball plunger 50 screwed into the side surface portion 39 on the front side is shown. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of an essential part showing a state where the ball plunger 50 is engaged with the through hole 24 of the extending plate 8. Referring to the figure, this ball plunger 50 has a cylindrical main body 81 and a ball 82 provided in the main body 81, and the main body 81 is screwed into the holding portion 3.

A male screw 83 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the main body 81, and a recess 84 for accommodating the ball 82 is provided inside.
Is provided. Further, a hole 85 smaller than the diameter of the ball 82 is formed in the tip surface of the main body 81. On the other hand, the ball 82 is formed by the spring 8 arranged in the recess 84.
6, the ball 82 is elastically urged toward the hole 85 side, whereby the ball 82 projects from the tip surface of the main body 81 by a predetermined amount. The ball 82 elastically projected by the spring 86 is fitted into the through hole 24 of the extension plate 8. On the other hand, the same applies to the ball plunger 50 screwed into the other side surface portion 39. Thereby, the holding unit 3
Are locked to the base 2 and held in the posture (first posture) shown in FIG. As the ball plunger, a commercially available ball plunger can be used.

Next, in the displacement mechanism 4, the holding portion 3 is attached to the base 2
Four support pins 31 and 32 for connecting with the slide grooves 20 and 21, 22 and 22 provided in the extending plates 8 and 9.
And 23. In FIG. 1, only the two support pins 31 and 32 on the front side are shown, but in reality,
Two support pins 31 and 32 are also provided on the opposite side (extended plate 9 side).

As the support pins 31 and 32, for example, bolts can be adopted. In the present embodiment, the holding portion 3 is arranged between the extending plates 8 and 9 facing each other, and the bolt serving as the support pin 31 is inserted into the slide groove 21 from the outside of the extending plate 8 and the side surface of the holding portion 3 is inserted. It is screwed into the part 39. The other support pins 31 and 32 are similarly screwed into the side surface portion 39 of the holding portion 3 from the outside of the extended plate 8 or the extended plate 9. In addition, the support pins 31, 32
In addition to the bolt, a columnar pin can be used as the above. In this case, a retaining ring can be used to prevent the pin from coming off. Also, the slide grooves 20, 21, 2
Since the structures of 2 and 23 are as described above, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, since the holding portion 3 is supported by the base 2 via the displacement mechanism 4, the support pins 31 and 32 are slid in the slide groove 2 from the first posture shown in FIG.
The holding portion 3 can be displaced to the second posture by sliding it downward along 0, 21, 22, 23. More specifically, when the holding portion 3 is in the first posture, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the wire connection portion 45 is exposed and each terminal insertion hole 47 is held in a state where the relay box 40 is held. Can be turned toward the worker who performs the wiring work. When the holding portion 3 is pushed downward from this state, the ball 82 of the ball plunger 50 is disengaged from the insertion hole 24 and the support pins 31, 32 are slid into the slide groove 2.
Slide down along 0, 21, 22, 23. Then, the support pins 31, 32 are slid into the slide grooves 20, 21,
When reaching the lower ends of 22 and 23, the holding part 3 is displaced to the second posture as shown in FIG. 7, and the relay box 40 is
It becomes horizontal. That is, the relay box 40 has a pre-designed posture for wiring work. Moreover, when the holding portion 3 is displaced to the second posture, the ball 82 of the ball plunger 50 fits into the insertion hole 25. As a result, the holder 3 is held in the second posture.

In this embodiment, the ball plunger 50 is used as a means for holding the holding portion 3 in the first or second posture. However, even if this is not used, the ball plunger 50 is not attached to the outside of the support pins 31, 32. The diameter dimension (in the present embodiment, the outer diameter dimension of the threaded portion of the bolt) is set to the slide groove 20, 21, 22, 23.
If the support pins 31 and 32 and the slide grooves 20, 21, 22, and 23 are set to be in a slightly press-fitted state so as to substantially match the groove width of the support pins 31, 32 and the slide grooves 20,
By the frictional resistance between 21, 22, 23, the holding portion 3
It is possible to maintain the posture. In addition, the support pins 31, 32 are attached to the ends of the slide grooves 20, 21, 22, 23.
It is also possible to hold the posture of the holding portion 3 by forming a notch portion that can be locked to the slide grooves 20, 21, 22, 23 and engaging the support pins 31, 32 with the notch portion. Is.

According to the relay box holder 1 having the above structure, the relay box 40 is housed in the housing chamber 30 during the wiring work in the wire harness assembly process.
By setting the holding portion 3 to the first posture, it is possible to position and hold the terminal insertion hole 47 of the electric wire connection portion 45 of the relay box 40 in the state facing the operator side. Therefore, the worker inserts the terminal fitting 4 into which the terminal fitting is to be inserted.
It is possible to easily carry out the work of mounting the terminal fitting while clearly confirming 7, and as a result, the work can be carried out smoothly and quickly.

Further, by displacing the holding portion 3 to the second posture after the wiring work is completed, the relay box 40 can be held in the predesigned direction during the wiring work. That is, the orientation of the relay box 40 with respect to the electric wires to be laid can be maintained in the orientation when actually mounted in the automobile. Therefore, when measuring the formed electric wire bundle, the electric wire can be accurately measured without causing looseness of the electric wires. As a result, the assembly accuracy of the finally assembled wire harness can be improved.

In particular, the present embodiment has the following unique operational effects. First, the holding portion 3 is attached to the base 2 via the support pins 31 and 32.
Since the posture change of the holding portion 3 is realized by the extremely simple structure of sliding 1, 32 along the slide grooves 20, 21, 22, 23, the structure of the entire relay box holder 1 is simplified. The advantage is that it can be manufactured at low cost.

Further, since the holding portion 3 can be held in the first posture and the second posture by the ball plunger 50, the efficiency of the terminal inserting work can be improved and the electric wire measuring work can be facilitated. . In this embodiment, the holding portion 3 is in the first posture, that is, the wire connecting portion 45 is directed obliquely upward to perform the terminal insertion work, and the holding portion 3 is in the second posture, that is, the holding portion 3 is held. The measurement work is performed with the part 3 in a horizontal state. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is necessary to hold at least the holding portion 3 in the first posture. That is, it is not always necessary that the holder 3 can be held in the second posture.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the following modified examples can be considered. First, the slide grooves 20, 21, 22, and 23 do not have to be formed in an arc shape as in the above embodiment. That is, it suffices that the holding portion 3 can change its posture between the first posture and the second posture as a result by the support pins 31, 32 sliding along the slide grooves 20, 21, 22, 23. , The slide grooves 20, 21, 22, 23 are
It can also be formed along other trajectories. Further, in the present embodiment, each of the extension plates 8 and 9 is provided with two slide grooves, but each of the extension plates 8 and 9 may be provided with a single slide groove. In addition to sliding the support pin along the slide groove, the base 2 and the holding portion 3 are connected by a required link mechanism, and the holding mechanism 3 is held in the first posture and the second posture by this link mechanism. It can also be displaced.

Next, as a means for holding the posture of the holding portion 3, a latch 60 can be used as shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 9 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow I in FIG.
A side view of the latch 60 is shown. This latch 60
As is known, as shown in FIG. 9, the operation button 6
By pushing 1 in the direction of the white arrow, the engaging claw 62
Can be retracted into the main body 63.

In this modification, the latch 60 is the mounting plate 70.
It is attached to the upper end of the extension plate 8 via. In addition,
Reference numeral 71 indicates a screw for fastening the latch 60 to the mounting plate 70. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the side surface portion 39 of the holding portion 3 is provided with an engaging recess 72 with which the engaging claw 62 can be engaged. According to this modification, FIG.
As indicated by the two-dot chain line, the engaging claw 62 of the latch 60 fits into the engaging recess 71 of the holding portion 3 when the holding portion 3 assumes the first posture. Thereby, the holding portion 3 can be reliably fixed to the first posture. Therefore, there is an advantage that the posture of the holding portion does not change during the insertion work of the terminal fitting, and the terminal insertion work becomes easier. When it is desired to displace the holding portion 3 from the first posture to the second posture, by pressing the operation button 61 of the latch 60, the engagement between the engagement claw 62 and the engagement recess 71 can be released. The posture of the holding portion 3 can be easily changed.

It is also possible to fix the holding portion 3 in the second posture by providing the latch 60 also below the extending plate 8. Alternatively, the latch 60 may be provided on the side of the extending plate 9 so that the holding portion 3 is more securely fixed. In addition, various design changes can be made within the scope of the present invention, such as the inner surface shape of the storage chamber 30 of the holding portion 3 can be appropriately changed in design in accordance with the outer diameter shape of the relay box to be held. .

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the electric wire connecting portion of the relay box can be directed to the operator side during the wiring work, the operator can insert the terminal fitting into the terminal insertion hole. It is possible to carry out the mounting work of the terminal fitting while clearly confirming the above, and as a result, the work can be carried out smoothly and quickly. In addition, after the wiring work is completed, the relay box can be held in the pre-designed direction in the wire harness after assembly, so there is slack in the wires when measuring the formed wire bundle. You can measure accurately without doing. As a result, the assembly accuracy of the finally assembled wire harness can be improved.

According to the invention of claim 2, the same effect as that of the invention of claim 1 can be obtained. In addition, since the structure for changing the posture of the holding portion is extremely simple, there is an advantage that the structure of the relay box holder is simple and can be manufactured at low cost. According to the third aspect of the invention, the same effects as those of the first or second aspect of the invention can be obtained. In addition, since the holding portion can be held in the first posture, the terminal insertion work during wiring work becomes easier, and as a result, the efficiency of the terminal insertion work can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a relay box holder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a relay box, showing a state viewed from the upper surface side.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the relay box, showing a state viewed from the lower surface side.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing the structure and mounting state of a ball plunger.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state where the holding box is in the first posture and the relay box is housed.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a main part of the relay box holder in a state where the relay box is housed in the holding portion in the first posture.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a main part of the relay box holder in a state where the relay box is housed in the holder in the second posture.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a main part of a relay box holder according to a modification.

9 is a view on arrow I in FIG. 7. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 relay box holder 2 base 3 holding part 4 displacement mechanism 20 slide groove 21 slide groove 22 slide groove 23 slide groove 40 slide box 40 relay box 41 relay insertion part 42 relay insertion part 43 relay insertion part 44 relay insertion part 45 electric wire Mounting part 47 Terminal insertion hole 50 Ball plunger 60 Latch

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A tool for holding a relay box having an electric wire connecting portion during wiring work in a wire harness assembling process, the base being provided on the base and exposing the terminal insertion hole of the electric wire connecting portion. A holding part that can hold the relay box in the state where the relay box is held, a first posture in which the wire connection part is directed to the worker side while the relay box is held, and the wire connection part is directed in a predetermined direction. A relay box holder, which has a second posture and a displacement mechanism capable of changing the posture of the holder. 2. The relay box holder according to claim 1, wherein the displacement mechanism is provided on a support pin provided on a holding portion and a base, and supports the support pin in a slidable state along a predetermined track. A relay box holder characterized by including a slide groove for 3. The relay box holder according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a locking mechanism capable of locking the holding portion at least in the first posture.